Quotes About Authority

Science is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking; a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then, we are up for grabs for the next charlatan (political or religious) who comes rambling along.

One of the great commandments of science is, 'Mistrust arguments from authority'. (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)

A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable.

I promise to question everything my leaders tell me. I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgements.

Significant change might require those who are now high in the hierarchy to move downward many steps. This seems to them undesirable and is resisted.

One of the great commandments of science is, Mistrust arguments from authority. (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.) Too many such arguments have proved too painfully wrong. Authorities must prove their contentions like everybody else. This independence of science, its occasional unwillingness to accept conventional wisdom, makes it dangerous to doctrines less self critical, or with pretensions of certitude.

Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge.

Apart from the social insects, no other species has been clever enough to invent war It is an institution optimally configured to benefit the alphas

Science requires us to be freed of gross superstition and gross injustice both. Often, superstition and injustice are imposed by the same ecclesiastical and secular authorities, working hand in glove. It is no surprise that political revolutions, scepticism about religion, and the rise of science might go together.

It is not hard to imagine serious public dangers emerging out of instances in which political, military, scientific or religious leaders are unable to distinguish fact from vivid fiction.

So, I think the bureaucratic religions try to institutionalize your perception of the numinous instead of providing the means so you can perceive the numinous directly—like looking through a six-inch telescope. If sensing the numinous is at the heart of religion, who's more religious would you say—the people who follow the bureaucratic religions or the people who teach themselves science?

It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised.

He wants it both ways—the language and credibility of science, but without being bound by its method and rules.

Los que tienen algo que vender, los que desean influir en la opinión pública, los que mandan, podría sugerir un escéptico, tienen un interés personal en no fomentar el escepticismo.

Who is really in charge of this planet?

Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)

One of the great commandments of science is, "Mistrust arguments from authority." (

And therefore I would say that the first thing to do is to realize that governments, all governments, at least on occasion, lie. And some of them do it all the time - some of them do it only every second statement - but, by and large, governments distort the facts in order to remain in office.

Uno de los grandes mandamientos de la ciencia es: «Desconfía de los argumentos que proceden de la autoridad».

We are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world." -

The real truth, that dare not speak itself, is that no one is in control. Absolutely no one.

Authority will lead you into ruin.

You either have a plan or you become part of somebody else's plan.

There is no question that a society that sets out to control its citizens' use of drugs sets out on the slippery path to totalitarianism.